HOLY BIBLE: Esther 2 (original) (raw)

5 καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἦν Ιουδαῖος ἐν Σούσοις τῇ πόλει καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῷ Μαρδοχαῖος ὁ τοῦ Ιαϊρου τοῦ Σεμεϊου τοῦ Κισαιου ἐκ φυλῆς Βενιαμιν 6 ὃς ἦν αἰχμάλωτος ἐξ Ιερουσαλημ ἣν ᾐχμαλώτευσεν Ναβουχοδονοσορ βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος 7 καὶ ἦν τούτῳ παῖς θρεπτή θυγάτηρ Αμιναδαβ ἀδελφοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῇ Εσθηρ ἐν δὲ τῷ μεταλλάξαι αὐτῆς τοὺς γονεῖς ἐπαίδευσεν αὐτὴν ἑαυτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα καὶ ἦν τὸ κοράσιον καλὸν τῷ εἴδει 8 καὶ ὅτε ἠκούσθη τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως πρόσταγμα συνήχθησαν κοράσια πολλὰ εἰς Σουσαν τὴν πόλιν ὑπὸ χεῖρα Γαι καὶ ἤχθη Εσθηρ πρὸς Γαι τὸν φύλακα τῶν γυναικῶν 9 καὶ ἤρεσεν αὐτῷ τὸ κοράσιον καὶ εὗρεν χάριν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσπευσεν αὐτῇ δοῦναι τὸ σμῆγμα καὶ τὴν μερίδα καὶ τὰ ἑπτὰ κοράσια τὰ ἀποδεδειγμένα αὐτῇ ἐκ βασιλικοῦ καὶ ἐχρήσατο αὐτῇ καλῶς καὶ ταῖς ἅβραις αὐτῆς ἐν τῷ γυναικῶνι 10 καὶ οὐχ ὑπέδειξεν Εσθηρ τὸ γένος αὐτῆς οὐδὲ τὴν πατρίδα ὁ γὰρ Μαρδοχαῖος ἐνετείλατο αὐτῇ μὴ ἀπαγγεῖλαι 11 κα{Q'} ἑκάστην δὲ ἡμέραν ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος περιεπάτει κατὰ τὴν αὐλὴν τὴν γυναικείαν ἐπισκοπῶν τί Εσθηρ συμβήσεται

5 There was a Jew called Mardochaeus living at Susan, descended through Jair and Semei from Cis the Benjamite,[1] 6 who was carried off from Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nabuchodonosor at the same time as king Jechonias of Juda. 7 A ward this man had, a niece of his called Edissa, or Esther, that had lost both her parents. Beauty was hers of form and face, and when her parents died, Mardochaeus adopted her as his own daughter. 8 In accordance with the king’s bidding, Esther was carried off among many other fair maidens to Susan, and there handed over to the chamberlain Egeus, to be kept in waiting with the rest. 9 Her charms won his favour, and he bade her attendant set about the anointing of her without more ado; choice foods should be allotted to her, and seven maids, the fairest in all the palace, to wait on her, adorning with all his art her person and theirs. 10 Of her race and country she had told him nothing; concerning that, Mardochaeus had enjoined silence on her; 11 and he himself walked to and fro, every day, before the lodging of those fair pensioners, so great was his care for Esther and of what would befall her.

5 Erat vir Judæus in Susan civitate, vocabulo Mardochæus filius Jair, filii Semei, filii Cis, de stirpe Jemini, 6 qui translatus fuerat de Jerusalem eo tempore quo Jechoniam regem Juda Nabuchodonosor rex Babylonis transtulerat, 7 qui fuit nutritius filiæ fratris sui Edissæ, quæ altero nomine vocabatur Esther, et utrumque parentem amiserat: pulchra nimis, et decora facie. Mortuisque patre ejus ac matre, Mardochæus sibi eam adoptavit in filiam. 8 Cumque percrebruisset regis imperium, et juxta mandatum illius multæ pulchræ virgines adducerentur Susan, et Egeo traderentur eunucho, Esther quoque inter ceteras puellas ei tradita est, ut servaretur in numero feminarum. 9 Quæ placuit ei, et invenit gratiam in conspectu illius. Et præcepit eunucho, ut acceleraret mundum muliebrem, et traderet ei partes suas, et septem puellas speciosissimas de domo regis, et tam ipsam quam pedissequas ejus ornaret atque excoleret. 10 Quæ noluit indicare ei populum et patriam suam: Mardochæus enim præceperat ei, ut de hac re omnino reticeret: 11 qui deambulabat quotidie ante vestibulum domus, in qua electæ virgines servabantur, curam agens salutis Esther, et scire volens quid ei accideret.

[1] If Assuerus is identified with Xerxes, the words ‘who was carried off’ should perhaps be applied to Cis, not to Mardochaeus; otherwise Mardochaeus must have been more than a hundred years old. But see note 2 on page 448. According to the Hebrew text and the Septuagint Greek, Esther was cousin, not niece, to Mardochaeus. So in 2.15 below ‘his brother’ should, according to the Hebrew, be ‘his nephew’.

[2] The slow progress of events may be partly explained, if Assuerus is Xerxes, by his absence during the time of his campaign against Greece.

[3] Literally, in the Hebrew text, ‘when the maidens were collected a second time’, in the Latin, ‘when the maidens were sought out and collected a second time’. Commentators are much exercised to know how a repetition of the procedure mentioned in verse 3 should have been either likely in itself, or relevant to the present context. The rendering given above is based on what seems the most probable interpretation; the brides had now passed out of Egeus’ care into the seraglio proper (verse 14); Mardochaeus, therefore, deserted his post at the entrance of Egeus’ establishment (verse 11), and mingled with the hangers-on at the gates of the palace itself.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd